Friday, July 19, 2013

M: They made this Manhattan with bourbon. I think I wanted rye though. In their defense, they did ask me.

J: [rolls eyes] Welcome to Blog with a Brogue!

M: I thought we had a good intro, what was our intro?

J: Some funny word...

M: It certainly wasn't something we concocted while at work... [laughs nervously]

J: "And a'wassailing we shall go!"

M: Is that still applicable?

J: I don't even know what it means.

M: WHAT?! It's like a Christmas carol! You, of all people.

J: I know the song. [with snarky eyes]

M: So we watched a film! It came from Brits. Thanks, Brits.

J: Yes, Brits. Thank you. We liked it. A lot. Not to be confused with alot, which is a creature invented by http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com. I like this alot. I also like this a lot.

M: I like simple dog.

J: You are simple dog.

M: [laughs] I don't disagree.

J: So this movie! It was called History Boys, and it was based on a Tony award-winning musical?

M: Play? I think it was just a play. I think we said this last time, too.

J: It's something legitimate. Not that film isn't legitimate. But it's not.

M: I mean, it can be! But... basically, the point that I would like to make is that somehow BWAB stumbled into content. Depth, if you will.

J: [laughs loudly] [patrons cringe] It's true! This movie made us think, which we are not at all used to.

M: At least not in the context of this blog!

J: The characters...

M: Were rich and compelling! Just had to get the Anchorman quote in there, as per our usual.

J: I can't even...

M: I'm sorry! But I'm not sorry.

J: I love you. Er...

M: [nearly spits out drink] [twice]

J: The characters were though-provoking and well-rounded, and the movie...

M: Made light of pedophilia, which I was not at all comfortable with.

J: I couldn't believe it! I was so appalled by their lackadaisical attitude towards inappropriate relations between authority figures and students.

Speaking French. Clearly.

M: Not even so much that as much as unwanted advances. Unreciprocated predatory-ness, good-hearted though it was, still terrible.

J: Absolutely. The premise of this film was a group of brighter-than-average British boys who were in a special series of courses to enable their admittance to Oxford or Cambridge.

M: Ahx-ford.

J: Quite.

M: Luckily, I happened to watch it with someone who speaks French, which illuminated more than a couple scenes!

J: I did a real-time loose translation of a particularly funny scene in which the boys are acting out a brothel-related scenario and the headmaster walked in. So many jokes that would have been lost on the average American! Meredith, who was your favorite character?

M: Without a doubt it was the self-sacrificing, good-humored, religious boy whose name escapes me now, but he was delightful! And I found his brogue most enjoyable of all, for certain.

J: Was that the Jewish kid?

M: Noooooo... I thought he was Anglican or Catholic or something. There was a Jewish kid? To the Google!

Posner and Scripps, together again.

J: I might be thinking of Being Human, my latest Netflix addiction...

M: It was Scripps! He exuded a worldly maturity and a brilliant sense of humor, all whilst playing beautiful piano music. It was lovely.

J: [sighs longingly] He was a really fantastic character. I think my favorite was the sweet but tragic vocalist to Scripps' piano musings, a gay character named Posner. He seemed to suffer the most from the growing pains inherent in transitioning from high school to college, particularly in the 80s.

M: He was also the most honest and forthright in his desirings for the lovely Dakin, and it was heartening. Something something, faith in human restored, something something!

J: I totally said that on Friday night. Goo Goo Dolls for life!

M: Oh my god, you did!

Demon Dakin. The smarm. The charm.

J: [laughs] I was surprised at how dark this film became, but I think it fit its original role as a play. Perhaps better than as a movie.

M: If you were British, you might have said fitted. In any case, I concur. I did not like the ending, and I especially did not like the instructor and his apparent lack of life experience.

J: I waaaanted to like him, so much. But I agree, his inability to stand up for himself or manage a group of snarky, brilliant boys was off-putting. He could have been stronger. I mean, we all could have been stronger.

M: Who are we to judge?

J: Blog with a Brogue gets serious.

M: I think that's the hardest I've laughed all day. It was a good movie. It has substance.

The whole group, out for a jaunt.

J: It did! I don't know that there was any particular message that I got from it, but I did really enjoy it as a character study and a window into what life must've been like for someone coming out during that era. Also, I was just reminded of the scene at the end where the only female character in the movie gives a brilliant rant about the lack of women in history studies. It's eloquent and true and up until that point I hadn't realized the discrepancy.

M: It was much-needed bad-assery.

J: Well said! And with that, we leave you. The Pig is pleasant and cool, and my beer is delicious.

We can explain...

A hundred years ago, when we were in high school, we bonded over our mutual love of Irish culture. With a little hard work and one traumatizing Student Senate experience, The Irish American Club was born!

Though the club accomplished nothing more than holding a St. Patrick's Day bake sale (which funded some seriously rad t-shirts), we're back again for another try. This time, it's different (we swear!).

We recently spent a year studying beginning Irish Gaelic at the Irish Cultural Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We also both own laptops and enough expendable income to find and view plenty of movies. Then there's the matter of all the time we've discovered we have since graduating from college...

Bottom line: Blog with a Brogue is a chance for us, and you, to delve a little deeper into one of the things we find most fascinating about Irish (or any) culture: the accent. In this blog, we're featuring accents from the Atlantic Archipelago, which includes Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England.

Sit back, grab a pint of your favorite beverage (if it's in a pint glass, it counts), and enjoy!